Glass bottles are typically formed using a molding machine. In a common process known in the art as pierce and blow, at a first process station referred to herein as a parison forming station or a pierce station, a gob of molten glass is dropped into a mold through an opening or hole at the top of the mold, a baffle closes the hole through which the gob was dropped into the mold, and a pin pierces the gob to form a parison. The parison is transferred to a second process station referred to herein as a blow station where the bottle is blown into its final shape.
The molding machine typically includes a multi-piece mold body assembly. The mold body for a single bottle commonly includes two blank halves which together are used to shape the parison, and two ring halves which together are used to form a top of the bottle. A bottle top may be threaded or have another desired configuration. Before the gob is dropped into the mold, the two blank halves and two ring halves are fully assembled as a single mold body. In order to remove the bottle, the mold blank halves are swung apart and the mold ring halves are also separated. A lubricant material, which also may serve as a release agent, is periodically applied to the internal surfaces of the blanks and rings. Typically, an upper region of the blanks has the lubricant applied and the threads of the rings have lubricant applied. During a normal molding operation, the blanks are opened to a stationary position for a few seconds, but the rings are in motion between the pierce station and the blow station. A single complete pierce and blow cycle may typically last about four seconds.
All such molding apparatus for glass bottles require an operator to apply the lubricant material manually to the internal surfaces of the mold body, namely the rings and blanks. This is a human intensive effort in close proximity to molten glass, and is done with a brush. This effort is even more intense for machines that include two or more molds. For example, a two bottle mold machine has eight parison forming mold blank halves and four ring halves. Because the rings are normally in motion between the pierce and blow stations, the machine must be stopped in order to allow a few seconds for the operator to apply the lubricant. This down time necessarily equates into inefficiency and lost productivity Also, there can be significant inconsistencies between different operators as to the application of the lubricant under such extreme conditions, including the reliance on manual application. If too little or too much lubricant is applied, the result can be defective bottles resulting in scrap, particularly for the first few mold operations after the lubricant is applied.